


on the mantle

by melonbutterfly



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Family Dynamics, Identity Reveal, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-23 01:48:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2529542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few months into their relationship, Bucky finally tells his family about Steve's, well, job.</p><p> </p><p>Aforementioned teeny tiny sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/2500736">perfectly right wrong number</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	on the mantle

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [perfectly right wrong number](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2500736) by [melonbutterfly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly). 



> I was and still am blown away by the incredible response "perfectly right wrong number" got. Thank you so much for all the comments, kudos and bookmarks you gave me, I really appreciate the support! I hope this sequel (small as it is) doesn't disappoint.

"Okay," Bucky says, letting out a quick breath. "So, you guys know I have a boyfriend."

"Not that you told us," his mom immediately interrupts, focused on the dough she's spreading out with the rolling pin. In the Barnes household, they start baking Christmas cookies two weeks before Thanksgiving and she and Bucky are trying out a recipe he'd gotten from Steve. Maybe it's not the most ideal situation to talk about this, but his dad and sister just came in, taking a break from fixing up the engine of her car, his grandma is sitting at the kitchen table with her sudoku book and spiked tea, and his nephew and niece are both still asleep.

"Yeah, we had to practically bribe it out of you," Becca agrees. Bucky can't hear the pause anymore as she checks her language – four years ago she would have used the word "interrogate" or maybe "torture", and nevermind that he'd been a POW for less than a week, his family have taken precaution to change even the smallest thing not to remind him of that.

"You didn't," he disagrees, a little wounded. "I told you about him right after our first date and anyway, we agreed that dating is optional family business." Maybe it's embarrassing, he's definitely closer to thirty now than to his mid-twenties, but he tells his family everything. And he _had_ told them about Steve. Not at first – it had started so innocuously – and even when it got serious he took his time, just mentioning Steve casually here or there, but he'd told them what was going on right after Coney Island. That's when he knew. Or rather, when he knew that he wasn't alone in this, that Steve was in just as deep. Steve, bless his soul, hadn't been subtle about that at all. Not that Bucky minded that in the least.

"Leave the boy alone, you're embarrassing him enough with that picture on the mantle," nana involves herself, frowning at her sudoku puzzle. The picture she's referring to is not the selfie he and Steve took where Steve is kissing his cheek – that one's printed out too, but it's on the wall in the living room; Steve is his first official boyfriend and his parents are taking the pride thing all out – but the one of Steve on his bike. Yes, his mom put that one on the mantle. She and Becca didn't even bother to pretend it was merely to show their support. Even his dad had just raised one eyebrow and said that if anything went on the mantle, that sure was a good choice. And yeah, Steve looks damn hot in it, but still, Bucky could've lived without knowing how much his family agrees with him on that.

"Yes, well," Bucky says quickly before Becca or his mom can start in on that one again. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Did you finally get around to asking Steve if he wants to come for Thanksgiving?" his mom asks as she checks the thickness of the dough. "Though if it's a question of Thanksgiving here, Christmas with his family, we have dibs on you for the important days of Christmas. And half of Thanksgiving."

"He'd love to come," Bucky replies a bit louder before Becca can say anything about that – and he just knows she wants to, her five boyfriends so far that were important enough never got dibs on her for important holidays during their first year together, and it seems Steve just got half of Christmas with Bucky.

That actually makes his mom look up and at him, surprised. "You asked him? Why didn't you say so? That's wonderful, darling." With a wide smile she moves in to hug him, getting flour all over him. Not that he didn't have a fine dust coat of it before. Whenever he bakes he somehow gets everything, his clothes included, dirty. Steve considers it a mixed blessing because on the one hand, it means Bucky has to take his clothes off, but on the other, Steve seriously can't stand messes. It's mostly adorable, the honest conflict on his face.

"Finally," Becca agrees loudly, bumping fists with their dad. "We thought you'd never do it."

"What about Steve's family?" mom asks as she pulls away again, not returning to the dough but leaning against the counter, full focus on Bucky now.

"Yes, well," Bucky hedges, then sighs. "He has no family. His parents are dead and there's nobody else."

As he thought, his family really don't like that thought; there are some sad noises and some cooing and for some reason Bucky gets hugged again, three times, only nana not willing to get up from her comfortable chair. His family is pretty big, he's got a couple of aunts and uncles and cousins and another two grandparents apart from nana, and family reunions can get pretty chaotic. In a nice way though, and because family has always been important to his parents Bucky had just always been used to it. He'd known they'd react this way.

"He has to come for all of Christmas then," his mom is already deciding. "He can stay until New Year's if he wants to, or does he have to work? I still don't really understand how this whole inactive thing works."

That's mostly because Bucky has been vague about explaining it, since Steve isn't really inactive nor really reserve. He'd told his parents as much of the truth as he could, but, well. He couldn't really tell them everything.

He sorta has to, though, what with Steve coming for Thanksgiving, which is why he started this conversation in the first place. Maybe he should get around to it.

"Mom," he interrupts before she can get too carried away. "It's not like he has no one, his team- he has a bunch of friends and they do holidays together." It's sort of, well, tragic really how basically none of Steve's friends have parents or much in the way of family. The only people who do are Darcy and Thor. Therapists, according to Steve, have a field day with that one. The correlation between being orphaned at a young age and becoming a so-called superhero. As if the number isn't so small as to be negligible.

"Oh, well that's nice," his mom says, slightly mollified. "Maybe next year all of them can come? For Thanksgiving at least, if they don't want a full Barnes Christmas. How many of them are there though? Because if it's enough of them we can finally rent the whole motel near the farm." The reason this is important to his mom is because she and her sister have had a bet going for about twenty years now about that one. His aunt thinks the older generations are going to die off before enough of the younger generations are old enough or have reproduced enough to require a sufficient number of rooms. Bucky isn't sure if the whole bet is macabre or not, which, well, isn't untypical for his aunt. Come to think, he'd rather not inflict her on Steve too soon yet. If Steve is going to meet all the Barneses, it'll be next year.

"More than five, it varies," he replies a bit vaguely, then sighs. It's never going to happen naturally, he's just going to have to come out and say it. "So. About that. You know how I never really explicitly said what Steve does?"

"You said it's classified," his dad says, eyes narrowing. Oh, here we go. His dad never minded the bisexual thing, at least not where Bucky could see, but somehow when Bucky mentioned having a boyfriend his dad pulled the whole interrogation deal he did with Becca every time she had someone. What's his name, what's his job, what does he do, does he smoke/drink/drugs, et cetera. It had been awkward, and a bit weird. Becca's vindicated expression – Bucky used to laugh at her when their dad did this to her, yeah he hadn't been the nicest brother as a teenager – hadn't made it better either.

"Well that's because it is," Bucky hastens to confirm. "But also, uhm. So. Steve is Captain America."

Nobody really has anything to say to that for a moment. At any other time Bucky would find their stunned expressions hilarious, but right now he's somehow a bit too nervous to really appreciate it.

"Wait," Becca says suddenly, jumps up and hurries off. When she returns she's carrying the two pictures of Steve they have, the bike one and the selfie. "You- oh my god." She squints at the bike one. "Oh my god, Bucky!"

Mom immediately snatches the photo away from Becca and stares at it for a moment too, then looks up to stare at Bucky, then peers at the selfie one.

"Well," dad says after a long silence. "At least we don't have to worry about drugs or gangs now." Suddenly he narrows his eyes. "He didn't force you to keep it from us, did he? Did he tell you to keep it secret? Did you sign anything?"

Ah, geez. "No, dad," Bucky sighs patiently. "I didn't tell you because I wanted you to know of him as Steve my boyfriend, not Steve Captain America who happens to be my boyfriend. He said, well. He's leaving the decision to me." A bit uncomfortable when his dad squints at him, he lifts his shoulders. "Obviously it won't be easy for me once everyone knows that I'm his boyfriend. He said he doesn't mind if I tell everyone, and he's fine if I want to keep it on the down low. So. I'm doing that for now."

"Hmph," dad makes.

Mom chooses that moment to drop the photo in shock; Becca barely manages to catch it, without mom even noticing. "Oh god!" she exclaims. "That means Captain America's coming here for Thanksgiving!"

"Oh, no," Bucky immediately disagrees. "No, no no no no no. Steve my boyfriend is coming for Thanksgiving. I'm serious mom. Dad, Becca. No. He's Steve. Don't treat him any different, alright? You can ask me all the questions in the world about my boyfriend if it helps you treat him like a person when you meet him, and that's why I told you two weeks in advance by the way. But don't treat him like Captain America, I'm serious, okay?" He doesn't even know when he stood up but at one point he did, and now he's facing his family head-on, breathing fast.

Maybe he should have told them even sooner. He'd known for seven weeks before it really came up, after all, they'd even talked about it and he still nearly fucked up when Steve asked him about meeting in person. It's a huge vulnerable spot for Steve, though he manages to hide it well so long as people don't figure it out on their own – being seen as himself, the person he is, not Captain America. His almost-girlfriend back then, Peggy, is virtually the only person in the world who knew Steve before the serum and didn't treat him any different afterwards, because she saw the person in him, not the figurehead. Bucky didn't know how much he almost fucked up when he let his insecurities get the better of him for a moment until Steve told him about Peggy three months into their relationship. And maybe it's not fair, but if his family doesn't get a grip, he's not going to subject them to Steve until they do. He's just not. He can't do that to Steve. It'll hurt not spending Thanksgiving with them, but it won't be the first time, and Steve might be big and strong but that doesn't mean he isn't vulnerable.

He's sure some of his upset must be showing on his face, because they all look startled. Becca is the first to shake it off. "Yeah, okay," she says, tone somewhere between pacifying and serious. "Don't worry, okay? I mean okay it'll be hella weird and I might slip up a little but I won't like, stare at him. No promises about the kids though."

"Bee is four years old and Boss is nine months," Bucky replies tightly. "They won't be a problem."

"Bucky, let's sit down," mom suddenly says, taking a seat at the table kitty-corner from him, hands folded in her lap. A little warily, Bucky sinks down in his chair again and looks at her. She takes a moment to collect her thoughts, something he's used to by now but all of a sudden it drives him as crazy as it would when he was an impatient teenager. Finally, she starts to talk. "Look. I'm not sayin' it won't be strange. You gotta admit that, baby. You know a little what it's like growing up hearing about Captain America – not as much as we did, but still. Either way, it's gonna be a bit odd. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, to be honest. But you've been with this man for almost six months now, and it's the first man you've been with that you told us about. And your first relationship since you came back. All of that's a big deal, so it was never gonna be just meeting the person you're with right now, alright? But we'll do our best that it won't be weird for any of us, alright?" Suddenly she reaches across the table to take his hand. "You're really worried about this, aren't you?"

Gaze focused on the table, Bucky nods a little. He doesn't- it's not that he's taking on Steve's issue and making it his own. But ever since he started seriously thinking about telling his family – which, admittedly, he'd put off doing for longer than he probably should have – he'd suddenly really understood Steve. They'd shown their support before, but he'd wondered how that would change after they knew. If they'd treat him differently than they would if Steve were just some guy, not Captain America. If they'd treat _Bucky_ differently. Silly, maybe, but he'd still worried.

"You don't have to worry," mom says, getting up from her chair and pulling him into a hug. And maybe Bucky is closer to thirty than to twenty-five, but his mom's hugs are still as comforting as ever. "We'll do our best, and you know us well enough to know that our best is pretty damn good, if I do say so myself."

That actually makes him laugh, and he relaxes a little. "Yeah. Yeah, that's true."

"See." Satisfied, she pulls away, brushes his hair out of his face a bit fussily and then turns back to her rolling pin. It's clearly dad's turn to say something now, but Bucky tries not to be too obvious about waiting for it.

He's probably still pretty obvious about it, because his dad sighs. "Bucky, an hour ago I would've said that I didn't care if your boyfriend is the emperor of China, I'm still gonna give him a hard time when I meet him. In hindsight, that would've been a lie." A bit ruefully, he shakes his head. "That's all the special treatment he's gonna get from me, though. I'm not gonna treat him any different than I would any soldier who comes into my house."

"Alright," Bucky agrees, smiling a little. "Thanks, dad."

His dad shakes his head. "Not for that, son. Not for that."

There's a bit of a silence, and then nana speaks up, still focused on her sudoku puzzle. "Well, I sure am going to treat him different, now that I know that he doesn't just look like him, he actually _is_ the boy whose picture I kept in my locker all through middle and high school."

"Geez, mom," mom sighs. "We did not need to know that."

"You gotta admit to your roots," nana says unapologetically. "And your roots are that you were made with your daddy and me pretendin' we were important figures in the war." She looks up, eyes twinkling. "I was great at the whole Howling Commando deal, if I do say so myself."

Bucky feels his eyes go wide; Becca gasps and dad squeezes his eyes shut in a wince. Mom actually drops the rolling pin with something that sounds a lot like a squeak. "Mom! Why would you- I did not need to know that!"

Becca starts to laugh, a bit of a hysterical edge to it, and Bucky pinches the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "Nana, please let's agree to not mention this when Steve is here, okay?"

"Let's never mention this again, ever!" Mom jumps in.

"I just thought you'd be interested in a piece of your own history," nana says lightly, but before she turns back to her sudoku book she winks at Bucky.

**Author's Note:**

> * Bucky's niece and nephew, Becca's children, are named Daniel and Phoebe. Becca was trying to avoid the "B" theme she and Bucky have with their nicknames, a decision in light of which Phoebe wasn't the smartest choice (Phoebe's nickname is Bee). But she didn't take her family's determination into account when she named her son, which is how Daniel ended up with the nickname Boss.


End file.
